Companies and other organizations commonly maintain large quantities of data in different databases and in different formats (even within the same database). Data mastering—compiling diverse data into a single, unified database while eliminating duplication and errors—has become increasingly important in ensuring data quality and accessibility. A number of software-based tools are available for automated data mastering, such as Zoomix ONE, produced by Zoomix Data Mastering Ltd. (Jerusalem, Israel).
One of the challenges of data mastering is accurate matching and grouping of records. For example, enterprise databases frequently contain duplicated data records, in which the same entity (product, customer, etc.) is represented by multiple, non-identical records. These duplications, if uncorrected, can cause substantial wasted expense and adversely affect relations with customers and suppliers. Matching and grouping are also important in data cleansing (detection and correction of data errors) and categorization.